Summer is the perfect time for theory, don’t you think?

The six graduating members of the philosophy department presented their thesis research at the second annual Celebration of Creative Inquiry, held in the college dining rooms on Friday, May 1. Representing the department were Kate Goodpaster, Joe Hillman, Laurel Hoch, Rhea Muchalla, Jeff Nichols, Caleb Phillips.

Statue of Nkrumah at the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, built in 1992 after the restoration of multi-party democracy in Ghana. (Used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en).)

Today, the West African nation of Ghana celebrates its fifty-second  independence day. Ghana  is  the first African nation to declare its idependence from colonial rule, which it did in 1957.

The nation holds a particular significance for some philosophers, because its first leader, Kwame Nkrumah, was himself a philosopher. Nkrumah studied in the United States, earning degrees from both Lincoln University and the University of Pennsylvania. Books by Nkrumah include Ghana: The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah; Africa Must Unite! and Consciencism. He is regarded today as having been one of the most influential figures in the Pan-African movement. (He died in 1972.)

In celebration of Ghana’s independence, the Dining Service will be featuring regional specialties. And at 5 p.m., you can bring your tray to the St. Peter Room for a brief celebration of the day, including some readings from Nkrumah. (Yes, that’s the way philosophers celebrate: we read things from other philosophers and we eat.)